'It changed my life': Plummer recalls agony of struggling with COVID-19, isolation

Houston City Councilwoman Letitia Plummer recalled the agonies of getting the COVID-19 virus last year, but added that the worst part was how the illness isolated her from other people.

Elected to the city council in 2019, Plummer is a dentist and the daughter of an African American father and an Indian-Yemeni mother.

"It was just over a year ago that I had COVID-19 and it changed my life,” Plummer said in a tweet. “Like many people, it took me a few months to overcome the physical effects. The mental health impact of COVID-19 is longer lasting."

Plummer said in a piece written for the COVID-19 Wall of Memories, a website designed to memorialize victims of the virus and preserve their stories, that after she tested positive for the virus last May, she suffered the physical impacts of the illness. These included a smothering compression of the chest that made simple breathing an agonizing ordeal.

Others who have been asked to describe what it was like to have the COVID-19 virus compared it to having the inside of their chest covered with tar.

Plummer said breathing took every ounce of her energy.

But the toll also included the enforced isolation on those with the virus and the mental health problems loneness imposes during a time of crises.

“I began to experience the emotional impact of COVID-19,” Plummer said on the Wall of Memories website. “Alone in my house, I had no one but my two furry friends to keep me company. There were times that I struggled to get up, and there was no one to help me. I was alone, surrounded by silence. I spent a lot of time crying during those days of isolation.”

Plummer added that she feels fortunate to be a survivor of the illness when so many others have died.

“When I see the number of people that have died in Houston from COVID-19, I feel guilty,” she said. “I am reminded that they had a family, had a life full of memories and dreams just like me. I somehow feel that I was given a second chance. Now I prioritize what’s important to me: Self-care, spending time with family and fighting for the people of Houston.”